PLEASE SEE OTHER ITEMS IN THIS GALLERY REGARDING THE HMS GANGES SHORE ESTABLISHMENT MAST.

HMS CORDELIA (1881)
Photo: HMS CORDELIA (1881) departing Sydney, Australia in January 1892.
© City of Sydney Archives, AUSTRALIA
HMS CORDELIA (1881) was a Comus-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy from October 25, 1881 to 1904.
HMS CORDELIA (1881) was built at the Portsmouth Dockyard and was launched on October 25, 1881.
HMS CORDELIA (1881) commenced service on the China Station before being transferred to the Australia Station arriving in April 1890. On June 29, 1891, during gun practice while on a cruise from Fiji to Noumea, a gun burst killing five, mortally wounded another and injuring thirteen crew. HMS CORDELIA (1881) left the Australia Station in late 1891.
On June 29, 1891, CORDELIA (1881) was travelling from Fiji to Noumea when a horrific accident occurred. The crew were conducting gun practice when a heavy breechloader exploded instantly killing six men and wounding 13 others. CORDELIA (1881) sustained significant damage and the captain immediately altered course for Sydney, Australia where the ship was stationed. The ship’s surgeon set up an interim hospital below deck and cared for the injured men until they could be transferred to St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney a week later.
It is the story of these men was widely reported — not just in Sydney but also as far as Adelaide and Launceston — that must have captured the attention of Miss Helen Fitzgerald who lived a few streets away from the hospital.
In an effort to help the wounded, Miss Fitzgerald kindly loaned them her copy of the Life of Lord Viscount Nelson. The book itself is beautiful with a leather cover and marbled paper. It was probably very precious to her and was already several decades old when she lent it to the sailors. Unfortunately, we will never know the rest of this story or whether Lord Nelson’s exploits helped any of the wounded soldiers.
HMS CORDELIA (1881) was sold on July 5, 1904 for breaking up.
The mast at HMS GANGES was the foremast of HMS CORDELIA (1881). In 1907, the 143-foot high mast of HMS CORDELIA was erected. It would become a major landmark.
References:
https://www.sea.museum/2018/07/12/lord-nelson-a-gesture-of-kindness-and-the-crew-of-the-hms-cordelia/?fbclid=IwAR1zoRckko4ycdfZk6tCK_i73tMRpYlFD_NDlJHk9_FMD2Gm7USXoZ5AifA

The Mast, originally some 142 ft 10 ins. It is said in several books to be the foremast of H.M.S. Cordelia, a sloop paid off in Portsmouth in 1900 and was towed to Shotley Pier from Portsmouth. Records show the foremast of H.M.S. Cordelia as 134 ft, thus leaving a shortfall of some 8 ft 10 ins. Other drawings originally from the PSA stamped as drawing No G24/59, prepared at their Colchester Office, show the main mast as formerly the foremast from H.M.S. Cordelia. With the top sections coming from the foretopmast of the former H.M.S. Agincourt (lately Ganges II). Who according to the Navy list, was still at Shotley at this time. Could this mast have been removed at Shotley or by reading deeper into various records show that, H.M.S. Agincourt when launched was a five Masted Steam/Sail battleship. Masts two and four were removed 1893. Could one of these masts be the one in question together with the 24 ins diameter steel lower section of the foremast of sloop H.M.S. Cordelia ‘as towed from Portsmouth’ together with possibly ‘No 4 Mast earlier taken from H.M.S. Agincourt’ and not as drawings show ‘the foremast of H.M.S. Agincourt’